CPAPtalk.com

JDS74 wrote:

kteague wrote:I remember reading on here about some abnormality of blood cells sometime seen with untreated severe apnea. Does anyone remember the name of that abnormality?

The disorder is called hypercapnia and is a condition of elevated CO2 levels in the blood. Long term untreated OSA can lead to daytime hypercapnia and other complications.

Anyone with untreated or poorly treated sleep apnea considering surgery should be evaluated for this condition. It is a simple blood test called a comprehensive metabolic panel (CMP) and the particular sub-test is the CO2 level.

Elevated pCO2, like polycythemia, is still very unusual in the setting of severe untreated OSA. One needs to additionally be quite (not necessarily morbidly) obese.

That being said, those who meet the above criteria still only run a 10-20% chance of pCO2 retention.

http://services.aarc.org/source/Downloa ... 0.1347.PDF

http://www.atsjournals.org/doi/full/10. ... sFEYfRDuSo

Additionally, one should consider whether the pCO2 occurs acutely during sleep or is carried over into the daytime (although CO2 (as ETCO2) is not routinely measured in adults during routine NPSG.

Also note that when this stuff happens, these guys are now termed "Pickwickian" (OHS).

A doctor at St Vincent's hospital in Melbourne Australia has been doing research on arterial flexibility and its relationship to sleep apnea.

OhHelpMe wrote:

Julie wrote:Sickle cell anemia is vastly skewed to African Americans... ..

Do you know the logic error in this statement?

Sickle cell anemia occurs more commonly among people whose ancestors lived in tropical and sub-tropical sub-saharan regions where malaria is or was common.

It does not matter which continent they live on presently.

Good catch Ohhelpme!

My note was meant to clarify that the great majority of sickle cell carriers and/or patients in the U.S. today are found among people of African descent... do not misinterpret that for anything else - just as e.g. Tay Sachs (a genetic and fatal childhood disease) is carried by Jews (whom I am descended from). Those are medical facts and that's all.

Kathy,

Late in responding, but my RBC dropped significantly after I started with my ASV. The doc who failed to diagnose apnea, despite my repeated comments about how tired I was because hip pain kept me from sleeping well, immediately informed me that this meant I was bleeding internally, and that meant my cancer had come back. When I asked if it might be because I was now getting adequate oxygen at night, he said it couldn't possibly be: it was the cancer! When it was determined that there was no cancer, he murffled and marffled and refused to admit that CPAP might have had anything to do with the drop.

My Red Cell Count (RBC) also dropped a few points once my OSA was treated. I was always a bit perplexed as to why my RBC would run slight high, given my low iron diet at sea level. My ferritin (iron levels ) were not elevated. Since my oxygen sats were in the low 60s, this would fully explain this increase in RBC. It was as if I was living at altitude. Doctors should suspect an OSA-induced hypoxic RBC increase and at the very least, inquire about snoring!

Julie wrote:My note was meant to clarify that the great majority of sickle cell carriers and/or patients in the U.S. today are found among people of African descent... do not misinterpret that for anything else - just as e.g. Tay Sachs (a genetic and fatal childhood disease) is carried by Jews (whom I am descended from). Those are medical facts and that's all.

My mum was diagnosed as being a sickle cell carrier - in the UK. Absolutely no knowledge of an African connection (although that doesn't mean there wasn't!). AFAIK, I have never had any symptoms. Unless they are the same as OSA.

Did your mother live for some time in a tropical environment? I'd be interested to know more, but don't want to be nosey.